Bloomberg France is imposing tougher rules on people arriving from the UK, including a requirement to self-isolate, to slow the spread of Covid-19’s omicron variant. The measures are introduced after new daily cases in the UK rise to a record. The rise in infections is hitting economic activity across the euro area. Restrictions in the services sector halted recovery ...
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Euro area activity drops to 9-month low on resurgent virus
Bloomberg Euro area economic activity slowed as rising coronavirus cases hurt service providers to offset an improvement in manufacturing output. Inflation pressure eased a little. A composite gauge for both sectors fall to 53.4 in December from 55.4 the previous month, according to a survey of purchasing managers by IHS Markit. Services activity grew at its weakest since April ...
Read More »Europe to surpass $100bn in startup funding this year
Bloomberg Europe’s technology sector is set to bring in more than $100 billion of annual investment for the first time this year, capping off a period of deal-making and surging valuations. With nearly three times as much capital projected to be raised this year compared with 2020, the total number of tech companies in Europe valued at more ...
Read More »â€˜Canadians lack confidence in fight to curb inflation’
Bloomberg Canadians are unconvinced that policy makers will be able to rein inflation back to pre-pandemic levels, a worrying development that could reinforce the need for the Bank of Canada to be vigilant about price pressures. A large majority of Canadians, or 63.5%, say they lack confidence that inflation will return to more normal levels, according to a survey ...
Read More »French economy shows little sign of succumbing to omicron angst
Bloomberg French economic activity will continue to rise in December, despite another wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and fresh uncertainty over the omicron variant, according the Bank of France. Completed at the end of last week, the central bank’s monthly survey of 8,500 firms is the first indicator of how businesses in the euro area’s second-largest economy are faring ...
Read More »Getty Images to return to public markets
Bloomberg Getty Images will merge with a blank-check firm backed by CC Capital and Neuberger Berman, returning a company bearing one of most storied names in business to the public market. The deal values the Seattle-based licensing provider of stock and news photos at $4.8 billion including debt, according to a statement. The agreement with CC Neuberger Principal Holdings ...
Read More »UK companies call for relief as PM’s Plan B set to cost billions
Bloomberg UK business groups called for government support after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced restrictions to curb the spread of the omicron variant, which Bloomberg Economics estimates could cost the economy as much as 2 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) a month. In remarks following Johnson’s televised address to the nation, business groups said the measures, which include advice ...
Read More »Spanish inflation rises to three-decade high as food prices jump
Bloomberg Spanish inflation accelerated to the fastest in nearly three decades in November on rising food prices, underscoring the lingering consequences of supply-chain bottlenecks across Europe. Consumer prices jumped 5.6%, national data showed — the highest since September 1992. The European Union-harmonised measure also came in at that level, matching the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. A national ...
Read More »GE expands debt buyback by $2bn on strong demand
Bloomberg General Electric Co said it now expects to buy back $25 billion of bonds, expanding one of the biggest debt repurchases ever, after finding strong demand from investors to sell the securities. Investors have so far offered to sell about $33 billion of bonds to the company, GE said in a statement. GE had sought to buy back ...
Read More »US consumer prices climb at fastest annual rate since 1982
Bloomberg US consumer prices rises last month at the fastest annual pace in nearly 40 years, underscoring how rapid and persistent inflation is eroding paychecks and increasing pressure on the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy. The consumer price index (CPI) climbed 6.8% from November 2020, according to Labour Department data. The widely followed inflation gauge rises 0.8% from ...
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